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Citadel
The Citadel of the Apocalypse is the last of the three main quest objectives in Darklands, following the High Sabbat and the Fortress Monastery. Location The citadel is in the same place in every game: Hochkönig, South of Salzburg. The citadel is in the world, but not of the world, and is impossible to approach before the appropriate stage in the main quest. The party needs to have faced-down both the Witches and the Templars. Praying to a saint (Catherine, Heribert, Herve) on the approach seems merely to impress the party members with the trouble that lies in store for them, and costs DF. ;Site Rotation For anyone wishing to continue the adventure after winning, the key sites of the main quest persist after the fall of the citadel. The sabbats continue, and new citadels will loop through these locations. #Hochkönig, S of Salzburg #SeeWinkel, S of Pressburg #Vogelsberg, W of Fulda #Teufelstein, S of Görlitz #Tafelfichte, NE of Graz The citadel shares this site rotation with the Fortress Monastery, which appears at location #4, Teufelstein, after its original site NW of Flensburg is destroyed. In theory the party can keep the main quest going indefinitely by conquering these sites alternately. If one of the structures attempts to move onto the current site of the other, it vanishes. Walkthrough Harnessing the evil of the times, the demon Baphomet seeks to bring about the Apocalypse early. The party's task in the citadel is to take upon themselves the plagues of Revelation and unravel Baphomet's plan. A lifetime supply of good German beer (123 / 200 / 300 Fame depending on the difficulty setting) awaits them if they succeed. There is less emphasis on melee combat here than in the fortress monastery. The party needs to be skilled and well-provisioned to survive the interactions in the citadel, or they will be grievously injured and/or killed. Normally it is impossible to emerge from the place without permanent damage, no matter the extent of preparations. Initially the party finds itself in a courtyard with seven gates. These should be approached left-to-right. First Gate Bring disposable armor to this trial, or in the very least un-equip the party members' best armor pieces to avoid ruining them. The option to hold your armor overhead will negate damage to Str, End, and Agl. A Firewall potion, or prayers to Boniface, Emydius, or Raphael (though this is quite early to start spending precious DF) will negate the fire damage but still expose the party to a large but non-permanent loss of Agl. A pack of demons inside this gate is found defending an artifact, the seed of life. Second Gate Swimming under the fiery lake by leaning on the party's End scores (deploy New-wind potions to all party members or pray to Cecilia) will enable the party to avoid injuries. Otherwise, Firewall and/or Saints Charity and Polycarp can partially defend against the flames. The flames can otherwise deal enormous End and Str damage. Beyond the lake there is a maze-like arena populated by Vulcans, fire elementals whose ranged attacks damage armor. The objective here is to acquire a small globe holding the Father of Fish. Third Gate Entering this gate initiates a battle with a team of four alchemists. If they are allowed to batter the party, uninterrupted, with their supplies of 35q battle potion, it will hurt. Sunbursts and Eyeburns in their manifest can disable party members for long moments. The best method of handling this challenge is to detonate a Sunburst, scatter, and keep the enemy disabled with followup potions while taking them down at-range. This is exactly what the alchemists will be aiming to do to the party. The battlefield is also loaded with Breath of Death traps that can be perceived by party members. The prize at the end is a jar of honey. Fourth Gate Calling on a saint to disperse the darkness in the corridors beyond this gate does not appear to produce any noticeable effect. Staying to the left (west) side of the the maze eventually leads to the center where an enchanted lantern can be recovered. A few groups of skeletons armed with battleaxes are encountered in the area. Fifth Gate Through this gate is a network of decadent feasting halls warded by locked and hidden doors. The locusts in this area can nutrify the party with 40q Essence o'Grace potions when slain. The goal here is an interview with one of the four horsemen, Famine, and to reach him, the party can benefit from high Per and must possess either high Artf + Lockpicks or Eater Water potions to breach the doors. For his token, Famine must be offered all of the party's florins (the wealthy are proof against famine) or one of the lives of party members #3-5. Parties with only 1 or 2 members can make this offer and get the scales for free, since famines always leave survivors; otherwise, giving up all the party's wealth is definitely recommended. Note that the dialogue option all your money and goods in the cutscene does not mean all equipment and bank notes. Offering one's soul drops a party member's Virt to zero for no gain at all. Sixth Gate The dread gate of war will exact the hardest price on the party. Attacking Hell's army is in no-way guaranteed to impress them, and each attempt has one of the following results: *Every party member will lose one-quarter of his Str, permanently. *The strongest fighter in the party will permanently lose half of his Str. Alternatively, a call to the pacifist saints Apollinarius, Godfrey, or Genevieve resolves the situation and limits the party's losses to 5 Str on each member. An all-out supplication, for 99 percent odds, to one of the saints is recommended here. For their valor or virtue, the demons yield to the party the Sword of War. The descriptions of this artifact seem to vary. The narration describes it as a nicknack "no more than a finger's length," whereas the game's artwork has it something approximate to a shortsword, but in the inventory, the sword behaves as a fully-usable, hellforged two-hander of tremendous weight and quality (99q and 30 lbs.). Either way, it must be given-up at the end of the citadel. Seventh Gate The seventh gate features an (arguably) more conventional combat action with a dragon described in Revelations. Besides a loss of Virt, there is nothing to be had from kneeling and praying to this creature beforehand. The only real protection against the dragon is Firewall, and only very-high penetration and quality weapons can harm it, so the party should apply Deadly Blade, Greatpower, and most particularly Strongedge potions no matter what type of weapon each member chooses to employ. Following this is a cutscene-driven showdown with Baphoment, using the artifacts recovered from the previous six gates. Counting on the party not understanding the nature of the unknown, seventh key, the cornerstone of all religion, the demon offers a bargain that results in the delay of his apocalypse and the delay of the party's victory in this quest. Additional Notes *Either choice at the end has pleasant consequences. The offer of wealth and power gives the party no Fame, but a greatly-improved Local rep in every city in the Empire, and 50 Florins to get them back on-track financially. The members' attributes, End, Str, Agl, Per, and Int (but not Chr) are all permanently raised by 5 points each, possibly offsetting the loss of strength inflicted earlier. The party can choose to return later (the citadel will be in a new location as described above) and make the more heroic choice. *If the party wins the quest, they will be transported to the Inn in the nearest city. Likely due to some fault in the coding, if the party chooses to accept Baphomet's bargain they get teleported to coordinates 330×0, far over the Baltic Sea north of Danzig. A quick prayer to Vitus or Gertrude o'Nivelles can teleport everyone to Danzig, saving many days of swimming. *If the player wants to continue adventuring after the citadel, it is crucial to bring knowledge of either Apollinarius, Genevieve, or Godfrey to deal with the sixth gate. *The party can enter the different gates repeatedly, which could be of use at the fifth gate in particular if running low on healing potions. *The party can conquer the citadel repeatedly, as well, even after choosing to defeat Baphomet (see Locations above, for information on new citadel sites). The citadel can be done in conjunction with the Wild Hunt, which offers an opportunity to increase Str, making it so there is a net gain to all attribute scores except Chr. *Because Int does not "heal" over time, it will take at least two run-ins with Baphomet to gain boosts this score. The first time, the maximum Int is increased; the second and following times, the current and maximum are increased. Category:Locations Category:Quest-Related